Dehydrator



W. MEREDITH.

ULHYDRATOR.

APPUCAHON FILED oct 26.1920.

l ,428, l 78. Patented Sept. 5, 1922.7

m @Jv/s Patented Sept. 5, 1922. p

UNITED ,STATES l 1,42s,1;1s PATENT oFl-lcr-J.,A

WYNN MEREDITH., OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, i ASSIG-NOR 'I Ol PETROLEUM RECTIFYING COMPANY, 0F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORA.-

TION 0F CALIFORNIA.

DEHYDRATOR.

' Application led October 28, 1920. Serial-No. 420,244.`

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WYNN MEREDITH, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city and county of Alameda, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Dehydrators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates particularly to that class of dehydrators which employ electrodes between which a difference of electrical potential is maintained and between which the electrical discharge results in the accumulation of small particles of suspended water into larger particles, after which the oil and water are separated, usually by a centrifuge or by gravity. In such dehydrators the surface of the body of the vemulsion has heretofore frequently been the source of electrical discharge through a lower resistance path and also as the creeping along the surface of the insulation and along the surface of the emulsion. It is the object of my invention to prevent this creeping7 and discharging and thus preventing the interruption of service and the fire hazard, as the said surface discharge not frequently has heretofore occasioned an igniting of the hydrocarbon vapors above the oil body.

My invention has for its object means for preventing short circuiting in dehydra-v tors for oil emulsions and the like, and is directed primarily to the maintenance of an insulation in thoseportions of the dehydrator adjacent to, but outside of the path of thel electrical discharge during treatment as heretofore employed. Other objects will appear from the specifications and drawings.

These objects I attain by: insulating those portions of the dehydrator not covered by the emulsion to be treated by filling them with a body of relatively drier oil and -I prefer to maintain the continued separation of the relatively dry oil and the emulsion being treated, by employing a dielectric diaphragm or partition therebetween. The body of relatively drier oil is adapted to surround the insulator through which the electrode is introduced into the dehydrator, so that their surfaces being fully protected by the said dry oil are thoroughly insulatedl against any discharge between them.

By referring to the accompanying drawings, my invention will be made clear.

F1gure 1 is a cross-section through an electric dehydrator of my'invention.

The .body of the dehydrator is indicated by the numeral 1, having a top 2 within` which 1s the compartment 7, which is separated from the main body portion or treatment chamber by thel dielectric partition 3. This latter may with advantage be made of a glass plate'in one or more sections and supported upon a flange or other holding means as at 4:; and if the dimensions-0f the dehydrator are large a supporting flange may be formed from the insulator as at 5, upon which the said partition 3 is also adapted to rest but without clamps. In this way slight movement of the insulator 6, withV respect to the body 1, as due to expansion and contraction occasioned by heat, may be made to accommodate itself with the dlaphragm 3 without danger of breaking of the said plate, and at the same time an effectlve seal is maintained between the compartment 7 and the treatment chamber 8. The insulator is suitably sealed as aty 9 through the walls of the upper chamber 2, and the electrode 10 is passed therethrough into the treatment chamber. The said trode may, if desired, be made rotatablewithin said insulator, suitable bearings being then provided at 11--12 and a driving meansfor the said electrode connected with its upper portion so that said electrode ma elecrotate at any speed required, and Ihave 15, for rotating the electrode or otherwise agitating the oil, as the case may be, I also prefer to mount within this thirdchamber, thus making the dehydrator a unit in itself, independent of all others so that where batteries of said dehydrators are employed the breaking down of the insulation of any one does not put the remaining dehydrators out of commission. The employment of several dehydrators electrically connected in parallel, as has heretofore been the practice, has

-of their individual transformers, although the primaries of said transformers of said battery may be in parallel or series as the case requires, and this results in an equalization of the treatment afforded the emulsion in each of the dehydrators. I also p-rovide a trap`16 at the top of my dehydrator,

whereby any excess pressure from the inside is prevented and at the same time a liquid seal against the outside is formed so that no oxygen contamination is permitted with .the hydrocarbon' gases, should the oil level in the treatment chamber be lowered.

At 15 i have shown an .operating motor adapted to rotate electrode 10 and at 16 is shown the trap having a riser of larger dimensions at 17 so that any bubbling of oil through the trap 16 is not accompanied by an ejection of oil from the pipe 17, but merely a bubbling throughthe said riser,

' and the liquid seal is maintained at all times between the chamber 7 and the outer atmosphere at 18. At 19-is a`valve connectiton for the feeding of dry oil into the compartment 7 and at 20-21 are oil connections to the treatment chamber for the hydrocarbon oil to be treated and at 22 a blow-off or discharge valve. The operation is as follows: Hydrocarbon oil to be treated is fed into the treatment chamber 1 through connection 2O up to the level of the diaphragm or partition 3, and dry oil is then fed through the connection 19 into the compartment 7, forming therein a body of high resistance between the insulator 6 and the walls of rthe chamber 2, which latter are usually made of metal. The motor -15 is now operated and the electrode 10, 24, v25, 26 is rotated; the transformer 23 is energized renl sulting in the energization of the electrode plates or arms 24, 25, 26 and the walls 1 of the treatment chamber 8, there being now a high potential difference between said electrode and said walls. The dehydration of the emulsion in the treatment chamber 8 will now proceed and the insulation between the electrode 10 and the walls 1 and 2 will at all times be maintained by the insulator 6 reinforced by the body of dry oil contained in the chamber 7. The said body of dry oil will in effect retain its specific gravity unaltered due to every particle thereof being relatively lighter than that of the body of oil contained in the treatment chamber 8 and thus any surface discharge will be prevented. Moreover the dielectric diaphragm 3 will be supported on the body of emulsion and in turn support the body of dry oil, and it is not necessary that there should be any complete sealing between the body of emulsion and body of dry oil.

Reference is herein made to my co-pending applications Serial Numbers 420,245; 420,246 filed October 28, 1920.

I claim:

1. In dehydration apparatus for an emulsion a chamber and an electrode disposed therein and extending through a dielectric diaphragm, said diaphragm extending across said chamber and dividing it into a compartment within which the electrode is adapted to discharge, and a second compartment adjacent to the said electrode whereby 'a body of relatively quiescent oil may be retain-ed between proximate portions of the electrodes to effect further insulation thereof. n

2. ln dehydration apparatus for an emul sion a chamber and an electrode disposed therein and extending through a dielectric diaphragm, said diaphragm extending across said chamber and dividing it into a compartment within which the electrode is adapted to discharge, and a second compartment adjacent to the said electrode whereby a body of relatively quiescent oil may be retained between proximate portions of the electrodes to effect further insulation thereof, the walls of the chambers forming a second electrode. v

3. Dehydration apparatus as set forth in claim 2' wherein the first mentioned elecsion, a chamber and an electrode disposed therein and extendin through a dielectric diaphragm, said iaphragm extending across said chamber and dividing it into a compartment within which the electrode is adapted to discharge, and a second compartment adjacent to the said electrode' whereby a body of relatively quiescent oil may be retained between proximate portions of the electrodes to effect further insulation thereof, the walls of the chambersy forming a second electrode, and an insulator mounted in the chamber and projecting into the second compartment and surrounding said first mentioned electrode.

5. Apparatus asset forth in claim 4 in combination with motor means constructed and adapted to rotate said electrode.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in combination with oil pipe connections and a luidvtrap communicating with said second named compartment.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in combination with motor means adapted to operate said electrode, a transformer with wherein the said diaphragm is supported :trom the chamber Walls and also from the saidinsulation.

.10. A pluralityy of dehydrators as set forth in claim 7 wherein the primary Windings 'of their respective transformers are connected in parallel'.

WYN N MEREDTH. 

